Space

[saberforce]

Tros was not a fan of the sudden communication coming his way. He felt like he was being pushed into a corner and left out of sorts. But there was something he had that the Jetii did not know the beroya held in his own corner. With a grin behind his buy'ce, Tros launched the torpedo bay. It was a blank one, full of rust and other things of the sorts. The rust had small pieces of tracking metal that only Lily his A.I. could track. It was worthless outside of five parsecs, but it was enough for one that would want another attempt to hunt a ship. And the Ravenhammer was too good of a ship to not track.

 

The rust of the launch would not be tracked, and no one would know that he even made the launch. So with his grin still on his face, he turned the Orar around and began to drift back away from the Traitor's Hope, to allow for the Ravenhammer to believe he was not making the attempt they thought he was making. He would make sure that such a memory would be stored within his own mind, so that the next time he saw the ship... He would gun for it fast.

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

Tirzah groaned as she rolled over against the hard and unyielding surface of the stone floor. Wait a second...stone? The last thing she remembered was the soft bed of needles, ferns, and grass that comprised the jungle floor, the sickly-sweet aroma emanating from the Treeworm’s deathsticks, and Raia’s metamorphosis occurring faster than her eyes could track.

 

Raia. Where was Raia?

 

Sitting bolt upright, she glanced around. She was in some kind of underground room: heavy stone walls, stone floor and ceiling, and a single entryway covered by a metal grate. “Raia?” she called, before a wave of dizziness overcame her and she clamped her eyes shut tight.

 

“No Raia here, child. Ran afoul of the Queen, have we?” came a warm lilting voice from across the way, she gave a great sneeze to punctuate the remark. “Tell me, were you late too? The cat will be, that’s for sure. Silly little thing.”

 

“The cat?” Tirzah chanced another glance around to look for the source of the voice. On the other side of the grate, she could just make out the figure of a woman. “You mean Emily? Late for what?"

 

“Her own execution, hopefully!” The woman laughed. “Don’t worry, she’s a slippery one. Or they like her better than us. It’s a sadness to not be useful. Come child, what is your name? I am the Jedi Non-Master.”

 

Tirzah stood and walked carefully over to the grate, threading her fingers through the bars as she peeked out. Across a slim stone hallway, she could see an identical chamber to hers where the woman sat, her robes torn and filthy, her hair matted. “I’m Tirzah,” she said, for what felt like the millionth time that day. “Where are--” she broke off as her surroundings sunk in. “We’re in a dungeon.”

 

Her grip tightened on the grate. She had done nothing deserving of any kind of punishment. Beyond her self-inflicted adventure, she was a model student, applied herself well, avoided conflict…mostly.

 

“Ah yes, dear one. Or could it be that the others are in a dungeon of their own making? The moral of that is, ‘It’s not so much as what is outside as what is within.’”

 

Just then, the tinny sound of metal clinking and dragging against stone echoed dimly from the stairs and moments later a chestnut-colored fieldscurry scuttled out of the shadows bearing a key with the ring halfway down it’s body. It scurried out from under the metal ring and shifted to Raia’s form and the expression on her face was panicked. “Tirzah! We must run! They’re here...they...they. I can’t let them find me and I can’t let them have you.”

 

“What’s this, barging in without an invitation? You’ll be lucky to keep your head with that kind of behavior. And the moral of that is, ‘Don’t go sticking your nose where it’s not wanted,’” the dingy Jedi called.

 

“It’s wanted,” Tirzah quipped, falling to her knees and reaching her arm out from between the bars towards the other girl. “Quick, the key! Who is here? Who’s coming?”

 

“The Queen’s soldiers,” Raia said, her face paling as she fumbled with the key in the heavy iron lock. “I don’t know what to do. Even if we run, it’s just back to the forest. This is the only compound for klicks upon klicks.”

 

The heavy grate swung open and Tirzah brushed herself off. “Better get her out too,” she pointed to the Jedi Non-Master. “We can find our way out together.”

 

“I couldn’t agree more!” The tiny woman twittered cheerfully. “Together, we are one with the Force. And the moral of that is, ‘Don’t force a confrontation when it’s better to run.’”

 

But it was too late to run. Raia had barely crammed the key into the woman’s cell door when the sound of plodding footsteps and raised voices echoed down below. “There’s no other way out,” whispered Raia.

 

“Of course there isn’t,” the Jedi Non-Master scolded. “This whole setup is a house of cards, and the moral of that is, ‘Card laid, card played.’”

 

A procession of hooded and cloaked guards with menacing presences filed into the room.

 

“Stop right there! The Queen wants to see you,” ordered their leader. Tirzah couldn’t make out a face in the darkness, but the voice was female. “You appear to be in a hurry to confront your fate.”

 

The Jedi Non-Master piped up. “Appearances can be deceiving. And the moral of that is, ‘Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise.’”

 

“Oh, shut up,” Tirzah ground out between clenched teeth, trying not to cry.

[Emily]

Emily’s suggestion was met with a sudden strong rebuttal from Xae. The Jedi seemed confident, insisting that it wasn’t Emily who Raia needed, but Quietus. At first, Emily thought that it was a ridiculous suggestion: Emily was Raia’s master, and Raynuk just another Sith that Raia had started to get to know.

 

But then Raynuk spoke, his words mostly addressed to Emily, filling her in on what had happened over the past week. She was distracted, however, by a glow coming off his arm. “What—what happened to your arm?” she suddenly asked, perturbed. It had taken on the appearance of wood, and the grain was glowing. She rose, carefully placing Raia’s head back on the pillow, and crossed over to him, taking his hand in hers and examining it as he explained what had happened with the tree. She ran her hands over the pattern. He still felt like flesh and blood. She frowned, not really liking this disfigurement, but he didn’t seem particularly distracted by it.

 

After a moment, though, she had more pressing things to think about than even her lover turning to wood. “As much as this annoys me to say this, I think the Jedi is right…it has to be me,” he said. He turned stoically away and hurried off to get something, leaving Emily in a sudden flurry of thoughts and emotions.

 

He agrees? They both think that Raia has bonded more with him than with me? The pain that came with the thought was stronger than Emily expected. The Grey Master was no stranger to pain, and she paused for a moment in the silence to examine it. Are you really so surprised, Emily? came her scathing inner voice. After all, what have you done but pull Raia into the larger universe, give her a shove, and watch her free fall? What happened with Delta was 100% your fault. And you didn’t care. You told yourself it was for her own good, but you knew otherwise. Her memory echoed with Raia’s angry tears.

 

And Raynuk…he’s always taken her side. In this, let’s be honest, he’s been the one in the right every single time. Just then, he returned with a small rancor figurine, pressing it into Raia’s hand with a muttered explanation. His words were like a dagger twisting in her heart. He’s being so kind to her…and that’s never a word you’ve ever used to describe him before. A protector, sure. But kind? In all the years you’ve known him, kindness has never been one of his personality traits. They have bonded. He’s different. You know you’ve noticed—ever since he came back from the grave this time, it’s like his regret has caught up with him so strongly that he wants to make a change.

 

Her thoughts were only confirmed as he reached out and spoke tenderly to Jaina, and for a moment, it threatened to be too much for Emily. But then she brought herself back firmly. What is the truth, here, Emily? Put your personal feelings aside. You’re allowing your sense of responsibility to Raia get in the way. It’s an attachment, and it’s going to put her at risk. Focus on the facts.

 

She took a deep breath. I love him. I trust him. And if this is what is best for Raia, then I’ll live with the consequences. I can’t shy away from the truth, especially if that is what could bring both of these girls out of this nightmare and into safety.

 

She cleared her throat and moved to lean against the medical bed opposite Tirzah’s. “Well, let me at least give you my Force strength. I don’t want to lose you two in there either.” Her voice was a little huskier than usual, but her face displayed none of her interior emotions. Raynuk knew her well enough that he could probably see the pain in her eyes if he looked, but to the others she appeared simply willing to do whatever she could to help the two teens.

 

As everyone got ready for the next attempt, something nagged at the back of Emily’s mind. The Force hinted that something important had happened, a clue that would help the situation. Thinking back, she realized that as she had been forced out of Raia’s mind, the Dathomiri girl had whispered something. Emily played back her memory. Viņas. The girl had whispered ‘her’ in the language of the Sith. Emily frowned. Who did that mean? There were four women in this room, and Raia’s words could have referred to any of them. She almost spoke up and mentioned it, but decided to hold her tongue for the moment. It seemed most logical that Raia had meant that Xae’s suggestion was the correct one, given the confidence both Xae and Raynuk seemed to be feeling about this attempt. So she simply reached down inside herself, and drew on her determination and also her pain, opening herself to the Force’s whirlwind, ready to back up Raynuk and Jaina however they needed.

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

Somehow, Jaina knew it was always going to come down to Raynuk and her. She could blame him for the condition of her daughter, but it was because of him that Tirzah was alive at all. Bringing up their shared history and holding it over his head would only hurt the girls. Trusting him was irrelevant. Emily's witness and participation would guarantee Jaina's safety from any potential double-cross.

 

"Then through it is," she said simply, reaching forward to take his hand. It was surprisingly warm to the touch, and she tried not to think anything of it as he knelt in the space that Emily had occupied just a moment before, but found herself avoiding eye contact with her niece. Lifting the shoto from the floor with the Force, she placed it in Tirzah's limp fingers and wrapped her own free hand around the two. For a moment, she searched Raynuk's face, as if looking for an assurance that she herself did not feel: then she nodded. There was no more time left to waste in dragging her feet or wishing for another way.

 

With a gentle squeeze of his hand, Jaina closed her eyes and pressed her consciousness onto Tirzah's mind. Unlike her attempt with Emily, this time her intrusion met with no resistance. Like an extra step taken at the top of a stairwell in the dark, she plunged forward, breaking through a false wall, and falling, falling, falling through a vortex of pinpoints of light and color, their own hyperspace lane in the infirmary.

 

-----

 

The swirling tunnel straightened out, and all of a sudden, she was standing in an open-aired courtyard in the center of what looked like some kind of settlement compound. The sun was redder than most, signifying an older galaxy, but it also lent everything the aura of being vaguely covered in blood. The images that came to her mind were somehow lacking depth and dimension, but came with substantially more information attached to them--as if their color was given by refracted Force energy, rather than refracted light. Centered in the stone courtyard was a makeshift arena littered with sand. Off to one side of the arena, upon a dais of obsidian stone, stood a fearsome couple. The woman she recognized from John and Sirvani’s wedding--Alora Darkknell. Dressed in an ornate, form-fitting gown of scarlet-hued hides, she wore a sharp and ancient-looking crown that was well-suited to the curling snarl imprinted on her features. Beside her, her unknown, similarly-crowned companion was equally as intimidating, decked in jet-black armor and looking for all the galaxy like a statue of the ancient Sith.

 

Kneeling before them in the center of the sand arena, bound in chains, was a man with tawny blonde hair and a rakish grin that Jaina knew as Ca’Aran. But what was Delta doing here? No sooner had the thought passed through her mind than innumerable dark-robed figures circled the perimeter of the courtyard, leaving only a small gauntleted passage between those closest to the high arching door of the compound. Two pairs of hooded guards dragged Tirzah and Raia roughly to the edge of the dais, and deposited them along the edge of it, a front-row seat to whatever chaos ensued.

 

“Where is that bloody jakrab?” the man on the dais bellowed suddenly, startling Jaina so badly she jumped. When she did, she flew a great deal farther off the ground than she was anticipating. Looking down to where her tawny leather boots had been only moments before, she beheld, with no small wonder, a pair of tiny white paws, her strong rear legs bent over them. Rear legs? She held up her hands before her, and a second pair of paws entered her vision. Oh. Oh, dear.

 

“H-here I am,” she said quickly, hopping up to the dais. Until she knew what was going on here, probably best to play along with whatever had been concocted here in Tirzah and Raia’s mental connection. And where was Raynuk? “What is it, my Lord?”

 

“Ah, good, you’re here. We can now begin,” Alora said in a haughty tone, gesturing to Jaina. “Read the charges against the accused!”

 

One of the brown-robed figures stepped forward and thrust a datapad into her hands--which had again become hands. Clearing her throat, she looked down at the display and read aloud.

 

“Delta, Delta, cunning and sly,

kissed the apprentice and made her cry.

He gave her some jewels,

and took us for fools,

All with a wink of his devious eye.”

 

Finishing the strange rhyme, Jaina glanced in confusion up at the regal man on the dais. These were charges? The man, seeming to hear her thoughts, nodded in a stately fashion, and proclaimed to Alora, “Indeed. Let us consider the verdict!”

 

“Wait, not yet!” Jaina called incredulously, before she could stop herself. No explanation had been given beyond the curious little ditty. Whatever Delta had done this time, she would at least ensure a fair trial for him. “It’s too soon for a verdict. There has been no hearing!”

 

“Quite right,” murmured a quiet voice at her elbow. Clutched so tightly between another pair of guards that her short legs could not even reach the ground, there dangled a woman so filthy it took Jaina a moment to recognize her as Xae-Lin. “And the moral of that is, ‘It’s easy to believe someone when they tell you exactly what you want to hear.’”

 

“Oh, do shut up,” snapped Queen Alora, with a motion to the guards. “Silence her! Take her out of here! Throw her back in the dungeon! Off with her head! GET ON WITH IT!”

 

The man held up a hand to halt the rustling murmur that spread through the onlookers. “Now, then, all of this about hearing and seeing is irrelevant. Neither the Sith Empire nor the Nightsisters will stand for the actions of this one. Call the first duelist!” he boomed.

 

It made no sense. Jaina could almost feel the outside clarity with which she had arrived beginning to evaporate. The sea of brown robes parted again, and another figure was dragged in with them, looking as confused as Jaina herself felt. But at least one more of her questions had been answered:

 

Thrown unceremoniously into the sand alongside Delta, Raynuk Montar looked up at her with alarmed eyes.

[Raynuk Montar]

One moment Raynuk was kneeling beside Raia, waiting for Jaina to accept the hand they had been dealt, and the next he found himself being dragged unceremoniously towards some sort of sand arena by a pair of brown robed individuals; brown robes that he recognized as belonging to the Cult of Morthos. A flash of panic and concern rocketed through his mind as he wondered what part the cultists had in this Force-induced dream that Raia and Tirzah had become trapped within. But answers would have to come later; he had a job to do. He looked around, instantly wondering what had happened to Jaina; they had entered together, but now she was nowhere to be found, and that was more than a little concerning considering his words to her moments before.

 

More of a surprise however, was when Raynuk attempted to do what he would have normally done in a situation like this; he would blast the two cultists to either side with the Force, regain his footing, and eviscerate them. But in a cruel twist of fate, the moment he attempted to call on the Force and focus it into a blast, it seemed to backfire, sending searing pain into his own mind. It was enough to stagger Raynuk for a few seconds, but when he recovered enough, he attempted it again, only to be met with the same pain.

 

I am within the Force… he recalled after his second failure, assuming that here in this illusion, he would not be able to use something he had spent most of his life relying on. Now he needed a new plan, and he began looking around for anything that could be of use to him in the moment. It was while looking around that Raynuk realized that he recognized the area. Modestly jungled, it was the same sort of environment he had seen surrounding Tirzah when he was given a glimpse of her. But perhaps more importantly, it was the jungles of Dathomir; the ones that Raia had painted in her room aboard the Ravenhammer.

 

Just a few seconds later however, Raynuk realized the cultists had dragged him completely to the arena. They paused for only a moment as the outer gates opened before dragging Raynuk forward again into the actual arena. He watched as before him, a circle of cultists that spanned the entire outer edge of the arena parted, and Raynuk was thrown into the circle like a sack of bricks, falling face first into the sand before he popped back up and for the first time took in the display before him.

 

The arena was surrounded by a crowd of faces that all seemed to be far too blurry to positively identify. But as he continued to turn and scan it all, he spotted what looked like Alora in a red and black dress, standing next to a much more sinister looking version of Draken that was clad in all black. And there not far from the dias where Alora and Draken stood, he spotted Jaina.

 

Or rather, he spotted what his mind knew was Jaina. Really it was a more rabbit looking version of Jaina, complete with rabbit ears. Maybe it was the look of sheer confusion and alarm that the Jaina-rabbit was looking back at him, or the unmistakable chestnut color that made up the majority of it’s body, but Raynuk was sure it was her. Then he spotted Raia and Tirzah, both girls seemingly transfixed on the center of the arena where he stood. It was only through seeing their faces react that Raynuk suddenly felt compelled to duck.

 

Delta swung a closed fist at the back of the head of this new challenger, if he was going to fight, there would be little doubt who would be the winner. It was only then that he recognized the other man. He smirked and fell into a fighting stance.

 

“You shouldn’t turn your back my lordling, even though I have no force powers I am a clone, and well, we are pretty swank fighters. I ganked enough Jedi in my day that a Sithling shouldn’t be too much trouble fam.” Why he was using Nubian vernacular, Delta did not know.

 

But before anyone could yell ‘Worldstar’ The man ducked predictably and Delta scowled. Finding his face once again closer to the sand than he would have liked, Raynuk rolled to the side and stood, quickly aiming to brush the sand from his armor and clothes--

 

His clothes. Raynuk only then realized he was not dressed the same as he had entered the vision; gone were his armor, his robes, gauntlets, belts, and most importantly, his weapons. Instead he was dressed in what had once been a set of formal clothing that was almost burgundy in color, including a coat with a wide lapel over a green and blue striped shirt. And he was apparently wearing a larger than normal blue bowtie.

 

Oh. Oh **** he thought to himself.

 

Eyeing Delta quickly, Raynuk backed up slightly and turned and yelled to the cultists who had thrown him into the arena.

 

“Hey! I don't even have any weapons!” He yelled.

 

The response he got was to watch as a top hat with a green stripe was flung over the outer ring of guards and came to a stop against his feet.

 

“Really…” Raynuk said flatly, as unamused as he could get before turning to face Delta again.

 

“Guess I’ll have to do this the only fashioned way. Unless you happen to have a new lightsaber for me?” He said as he dropped into an unarmed combat stance, waiting for his apparent opponent to strike. “Or, you know, we could talk about how this is all a misunderstanding and I have more important things to do than dance with you.”

 

As Raynuk continued to try and play a more defensive role while taking advantage of openings he could see, he was momentarily distracted by an apparent disturbance in the crowd; a hand full of shouts of surprise and yelps were accompanied by a number of the faceless spectators jumped or dove to one side or the other in increasingly closer proximity to the arena. Then when two people in the first row ducked, a silver and black cylinder shot out from the crowd, right into Raynuk’s hand; a lightsaber. The surprise and quirked eyebrow on his face only lasted a heartbeat before he ignited the blade, managing to point the green blade at Delta with just barely enough time to spare as the man attacked again.

 

“Ha-HAH! Onguard foul knave!” He exclaimed almost cheerfully.

 

Why the hell did I just say? he thought, then pushed it aside as he fell into a more comfortable defensive pose.

 

Delta shrugged. “You want to debate it out, be my guest, but we can fisticuffs for a bit then talk. Nothing like trying to impress chicks by some bloodletting. Who yah trying to impress? I'm going for the pretty one, Jaina’s her name, though I bet you have dibsies already. In that case I'll go for the less hot and a bit underage daughter.” He looked to where she was and frowned. “No one can arrest you in dreams right?” He took another swing to test Raynuk’s defenses.

 

There had been many times outside of this Force dream that Raynuk Montar had bit back the urge and desire to plant a fist between Delta’s eyes, usually when he had made another snarky comment like the one that just came out of the clone’s mouth. But now, within this Force dream, he had nothing holding him back. So channeling all the other times, Raynuk grabbed the collar of Delta’s shirt, holding the man still, and sent a fist rocketing across the clone’s cheek as he let go of the man’s shirt.

 

The cheek split cleanly. Delta gasped for air and laughed as he fell back. “Is that all you got Ry Ry? Qaela hits harder in bed! NOW REALLY PUNCH ME.” He stepped forward and planted a fist into the man’s lower abdomen.

 

Without the normal protection his armor provided, the power behind the fist to his abdomen nearly bent Raynuk over completely as he let out an audible oof that sent his newly acquired lightsaber flying out of his hand and skittering across the sand. Raynuk countered by bringing both clenched fists up as he stood, connecting solidly under Delta’s chin in a modified uppercut and then staggered back a step.

 

“That was my new lightsaber you poor excuse for a man! Now I see why Qaela picked you to be her plaything; you're the only thing she could ever control. Now if only she had the same control to keep her legs closed.” Raynuk countered, wiping a bit of spit away from the corner of his mouth.

 

Delta fell into the sand and came back up into a crouch. “Play thing indeed Ry Ry, you should see how she uses her lightsaber in bed. Now that is really something. Makes me kinda sick but hey that's her style. Harden’s a man up if you know what I mean.” He stood shakily and brought his hands into a boxing defensive position.

 

Right as Delta finished taunting Raynuk, another lightsaber came flying through the crowd from behind him, much to the same reaction of yelps and surprise. This time however, a local pastry chef, who had apparently found that duels such as these were good times and places to sell some tarts to the crowd, was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The lightsaber completely smashed into the baker’s cart, sending the entire thing crashing into the arena right behind Delta, bringing at least twenty strawberry tarts with it that all pelted Delta from behind. The lightsaber, now partially covered in strawberry itself, flew to Raynuk’s hand and promptly slipped out, but a few juggles later Raynuk had caught it again and ignited its ironically scarlet blade.

 

Delta Gulped down a breath of air, and looked up into the galleries. When would a blaster or something come sailing at him? He cursed and spun a kick under Raynuk’s blade and pranced away. He called out, “Perhaps a kiss from the queen for this brave unarmed soldier?” He looked at Raynuks face and grinned. “Now you aren’t really going to go all off with my head right? I mean that’s just plain rude.”

"Wouldnt be the first time you deserved it though Ca’Aran.” Raynuk met the grin with a more sadistic version of his own, and began his attack in earnest. Downward slashes to the left and right, a vertical slash at chest height and another at waist height came in rapid succession. It was a series of strikes that if the target was not moving, would sever the arms and then leave what was left in three pieces. Following the second horizontal slash however, Raynuk shot an unexpected foot aimed directly at Delta’s privates; perhaps the only part the man actually cared about.

 

Delta bobbed and weaved around each slash, one nearly cutting him in half at the chest. It singed through the red clothes and the tip cut a furrow along his outer ribs. Delta nearly had time enough to curse before Raynuk caught him in the groin with a kick. HE could feel bile and curses catch in his throat and he fell straight back into the sand. His voice a was a comical pitch when he next cried out. “Wow fam, so rude. Right in the nutz eh? I mean really just cut my head off like my clone daddy if you are gunna do that. God Dammit.”

 

He began to crawl away from the Mad Sith, looking for anything that could be used as a weapon. A rock, another man’s head, anything.

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

Raia stayed close to Tirzah as their small trio (for indeed Raia was the tallest of the three and even then not very tall herself) was herded out into an open courtyard by the brown-robed figures. The elder girl had grown very pale and very quiet and that made Tirzah even more nervous.

 

“I just want to go home,” the elder girl whispered once they had finally been seated on a low corner of the dais, huddling together as if for warmth. Tirzah looked up at her and could just make out the shimmering of moisture at the corner of the other girl’s eyes.

 

“Don’t cry, Raia... or I’ll start too,” she sniffed, but was distracted when someone called for the jakrab. She looked around trying to spot the white shock of fur of the creature that she’d been chasing all through this wonderland of a nightmare. For just a split second she saw it at the edge of the crowd. But then something about the creature changed: and suddenly its snowy fur was a chestnut brown that matched the sheen of her own hair, though its paws remained white.

 

Beside her Raia stiffened and muttered a curse that ended in “Delta”, her glare fixed on the man in the center of the arena. The King and Queen called for a duel as the charges against the man bound before them were read in limerick form.

 

“The Knave! It’s true, he kissed me! But the rest is wrong. All I got was rocks!” Raia whispered to Tirzah, whose gaze darted between the older girl and the intimidating figures on the dais.

 

“Should we say something?” Tirzah whispered back, but received no answer. Raia was doubled over in pain, her palms pressed to her temple. “Raia? What’s wrong? Raia!”

 

Tirzah could sense a great deal of mixed anger and fear coming from the girl as an opponent for the man was brought forth and thrown unceremoniously into the ring. As he hit the ground and rolled, a shimmering wave rolled across the assembled populace of brown robes, distorting their appearance for just a moment, the very sun in the sky seeming to flicker like a light going out.

 

It’s unraveling... It was neither a thought nor a question: it was a surety. The jakrab’s appearance had to be a herald of some kind.

 

Then the opponent stood, and Tirzah recognized him as the one Raia had called Master Quietus. The girls watched as the two men fought, the vexation between them quite obvious, to the point that Quietus was ready to kill the other man. The one called Delta was crawling in the sand, retching, searching, his face seeming to tell what he knew was coming. She glanced at Raia, whose evidence had not been brought before the King and Queen. This had to be stopped. It was senseless, pointless, and the charges certainly didn’t merit death. But Raia was impassive. She was going to let him die. All this over a silly kiss?

 

A chestnut blur moved in the corner of her vision as she herself stood to her feet on the dais, drawing the attention of the brown-robed figures who seized her arms.

 

“STOP!” Tirzah cried out, having just about enough of this spectacle.

 

A hush fell over the crowd, and both men halted to gaze up at her. The Queen turned her head sharply. “Explain yourself, prisoner,” she hissed.

 

Her mouth went dry. Raia gave an almost imperceptible shake of the head, but she barely noticed it. For where the chestnut jakrab had just been, sitting at the King’s heels, there stood her mother--Jaina. Or at least, it was mostly Jaina. The jakrab’s long ears and pointed, whiskered nose remained. Had the situation not felt so dire, Tirzah might have laughed. A hopeful warmth began to spread across her, and the holographic shimmer of distortion washed over the crowd again. In the distance, the earth rumbled.

 

“Well?” The King said impatiently.

 

Jaina nodded reassuringly, her long ear twitching as if to say, go on.

 

Every eye was on her. Tirzah swallowed. “There’s no need to kill him! The crime hardly merits the punishment! Can’t he just apologize?”

 

“He has apologized.” A slow, cunning grin spread across the King’s face. “But if you wish him pardoned, then he is pardoned. Guards! Release the prisoner!”

 

With a sigh of relief, Tirzah gave in to the tugging of the guards and resumed her seat beside Raia. Two guards came forward to pick Delta roughly up off of the ground, and they dragged him back to the center of the sand arena, simultaneously with two more that seized the lightsaber-wielding challenger.

 

Then with a rough shove, they pushed Master Quietus toward the dais where Jaina stood.

 

“Very well, the one with the strange hat is released. Note the record,” the Queen said with an aloof wave of the hand in Jaina’s direction. “Then call the next duelist, to finish the job!”

 

“But that’s not what I meant,” Tirzah continued in exasperation. “Delta hasn’t even been given a real trial with a real verdict!”

 

“Indeed,” the King said, a handful of steps carrying him to the end of the dais where Tirzah and Raia sat. “Sentence first, verdict afterwards.”

 

With a sigh, she turned her head to see who stood on the other side of her that might be the unlucky selection to face the determined, but now quite weakened, Delta.

 

The steely heel of a thick boot landed in her back, and Tirzah was flung from the platform, landing face first in the sand of the arena. “Behold, our next challenger!” announced the King.

 

She looked up at him, her face a mask of astonishment and horror.

 

“Off with his head, then, little one,” the King said with a triumphant sneer.

[Raynuk Montar]

Raynuk was genuinely surprised when Tirzah yelled out to stop. But he realized quickly that he had simply been playing a part, one that was just barely out of his control as he looked up to the girl who was now defiantly standing and had caused a hush to fall over the crowd, before he looked back at Delta, dropping the lightsaber from his hand. Did he really plan on killing Delta within this strange dream?

 

His gaze next found the Jaina-rabbit again, looking to her for some sense of understanding, before steeling his resolve for both of their sakes, until the cultist guards again came forward and began dragging him away from Delta. Initially he allowed them to begin removing him from the arena, but then felt a wave of shock and horror as Draken walked over behind Tirzah, and booted her into the arena.

 

“Behold, our next challenger!” He announced.

 

No… Raynuk thought, quickly pushing the horror aside. No no no...Can’t let that happen. He began to thrash and fight against the guards that were dragging him away, and for a moment managed to free one arm enough to punch the second guard square across the jaw, freeing his other arm in the process. Raynuk was so used to using the Force to add extra strength behind his punches that in the moment, that in the moment he was beholden to his instinctual process. He was rewarded with another lash of mental pain as he again tried to tap into the Force, but as his fist struck the guard, Raynuk watched what could only be described as a shockwave spread outward. It rippling through the crowd and ring of cultist guards; each person flickered like a hologram as the ripple passed over them, all except Raia, Tirzah, and the Jaina-bunny, who momentarily lost her bunny characteristics.

 

The momentary lapse of concentration on his escape cost Raynuk, as the two guards both recovered and began peppering his abdomen with punches, and once they had wrestled him to the ground, gave him a few kicks for good measure as three more guards rushed over. Without the Force, Raynuk couldn’t fight off five cultist guards, and together they all began pushing and dragging him back out of the arena.

 

“TIRZAH! RAIA! YOU HAVE TO FIGHT THIS! BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE!” he managed to yell out, hopefully loud enough for both of the girls to hear before he managed to catch one more look at Jaina. Wherever the guards took him, he would find a way to get back here; he was determined.

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

The shock of the scene had stalled Jaina, whose pride at her daughter’s insistence upon justice melted away instantly when she saw what it had wrought. Raynuk’s shout spurred her to action, and she moved to jump into the arena, when a searing pain entered her mind, freezing her in place, and a crack sounded from beneath her feet. Tirzah and Raia's voices came to her, screams of pain. A thin, jagged line erupted from one end of the dais to another, and the ground shook hard enough to drop all but Draken and Alora to the earth.

 

As she stood, slowly, the quake subsided, and the hologram-like shimmer passed across the scene before her once again. Then it dawned on her.

 

We're hurting them. We can’t do it. We can’t do anything to get them back. All that we can do is to be who they know we are.

 

The guards who had been suppressing Raynuk had also tumbled to the ground in the aftermath of the quake. As surely as she knew that they couldn’t interfere, she knew that he had to be here, he had to see this as much as she did. Her mind spun for a solution, when all at once, the large Emily-cat winked into existence with a swish of her tail. Between her teeth, she clutched the small journal Jaina recognized as belonging to Raia. The feline dropped it at her feet and turned to pounce on a small rat with a hot pink tuft of hair, who had wandered into the middle of the duel arena unawares. With a wink of her devious eye, she spun in a circle and disappeared entirely, the creature clutched in her jaws.

 

Jaina picked up the journal and looked down at the page before her. “My Lord,” she began with a half-hearted hop toward Draken, “this evidence has not been taken into consideration. Perhaps the one with the hat should stay to answer for it.”

 

Draken held up a hand as a motion to the guards. “Bring him here, and let us hear it.”

 

Jaina shot Raynuk a knowing nod as he was pulled in front of where she stood on the dais. She began to speak, reading from the page before her: “Don't let her know she liked him best, for this must ever be, a secret, kept from all the rest, between yourself and me.”

 

Alora glanced at her with haughty eyes. “This evidence is meaningless. We will proceed.”

 

Draken nodded his assent, and announced to the new duelists, who were eyeing each other warily, “Begin at the beginning, and go on till you come to the end: then stop.”

 

“OFF WITH HIS HEAD!” Alora called.

 

Whipping around to the dueling ground, where Tirzah stood opposite Delta, Jaina was entirely unprepared for what happened next.

 

Delta stood weakly with his arms at his side, staring at the dais with a mixture or strange pleasure and contempt. Feeling it was his moment to speak, he said in a loud voice, “if I had known a simple kiss would have been a death sentence, perhaps I should have used more tongue instead?” He walked behind the adorable preteen with all the decisive stride of a father protecting a beloved daughter. He stopped behind the girl and with a grin looked up to Raia. “Do not worry, I'll be gentle for her first time.”

 

With that he struck the girl with a fist to the back of her skull. He sprang back into a fighting stance, blowing a kiss towards her sprawled form. Hearing the boos of the crowd he shrugged, “Come on, punching a cute little girl is hardly the worst thing I've done!” He winked aggressively at Jaina. “Say what you may but I am at least not gay like Draken up there.” He beckoned, “Come fight me sword to sword as is your custom.”

 

Jaina ground her teeth together so viciously she thought they might crack under the pressure. Every instinct in her body told her to run to Tirzah, to assist, but any move she made would only chip away at the stability of this ethereal land they inhabited together. Reminding herself that Delta wasn’t real only barely took the edge off. Staggering, Tirzah attempted to stand, but found herself unable to do so.

 

A fieldscurry scampered out from underneath the perimeter of robes that surrounded the arena. Almost as soon as she had laid eyes on it, the critter transformed into the figure of Raia. With a guttural, violent yell, she charged at Delta, her hand raised in an impending blow.

 

But the older girl’s hand was stayed by the unseen grip of the Force, and Draken’s sadistic grin widened, making it clear who had impeded her progress. “No, I think not. It’s time for all of you to meet my pet.”

 

“Your pet?” Jaina could feel the color drain from her face. This did not bode well.

 

On the far side of the courtyard, past the perimeter of the guards, the sand began to sink, disappearing between the holes in a trap door that was sliding open. A rustling groan sounded from underneath, and Jaina could make out the clinking of chains.

 

Rhythmically, Draken began to chant.

 

“Beware the Ssurian, my dear!

The scream that breaks, the teeth that shred!

Beware the Great Dragon, and fear

The Dathomir lizard’s head!”

 

When the door had widened to its fullest, a low thrumming call began to emanate from it. The waves of sound were almost visible. Sharply, shrilly, it took a turn to the highest register, screaming from its underground lair with enough force that everyone present clapped their hands over their ears. Crawling from beneath came a giant reptilian beast, easily four meters in height, with a long spiked tail and teeth as long as the hilt of Jaina’s lightsaber. With a handful of bounds, it crossed to where the duelists were standing, indiscriminately trampling the robed guards under its great feet.

 

Tossing Raia and Tirzah askance into the sand with a brush of its great snout, it stood, open jaws hovering over Delta, clearly waiting for a word from its master.

 

“Holy flaming big titted ewoks! What the kriff is that?” Delta whispered.

 

“Meet my pet,” Draken said simply. “I call him Furion.”

 

He snapped his fingers, and the creature pounced, engulfing Delta in a single snap of its powerful jaws. A moment later, and he had disappeared entirely.

[Xae-Lin Ardel]

Xae silently watched as the others acted on her guidance and somewhere, deep in the back of her mind, she hoped with all her might her call had been the right one. Of all the group, she had the most experience with Tirzah and Jaina and even then it had only been a few day’s worth. It was obvious from the way Emily was acting that the Sith, or at least her, took their oaths as instructors seriously.

 

Remembering her own upbringing on Dathomir she wondered for a moment if Raia was a willing apprentice or one that had been forced into submission through some of the same techniques her mother had used on her as a girl. The same techniques that Bas'lan taught you how to resist… She shook her head slightly as the long-buried and fuzzy memory of her apparent father replayed within her mind. Don’t forget you still have to deal with this new brother of yours too. Mentally she sighed and almost wished she could go back to the in between Il Andon had kept her in. The galaxy was growing far too complicated.

 

Xae rose from where she’d been sitting cross-legged and stretched her legs a bit, deciding to leave the infirmary and head towards the galley she’d spotted in the main area of the ship. A low growl let her know she was being followed closely by the great white beast. “Relax, beastie. I’m just making tiffin. Water to boil, satchel of herbs, calms the nerves? I feel we could all do with some, yes?” The tuk’ata gave no reply other than a constant gaze as she located a pot to boil the water in and took out a few satchels from one of her hip pouches.

 

Once things were ready, she grabbed a pair of mugs and brought them with her back into the infirmary, pouring Emily a cup of the warm, florally fragrant liquid.

 

Handing the other woman the mug, Xae ventured, “How long have you had Quietus’s daughter as your apprentice? She must be very strong to have caused such a thing to occur in the first place.” While the older girl had borne a strong resemblance to Jaina, Xae now was able to recognize the similar structure in Quietus’s relaxed face. Still, Jaina had never hinted at another pregnancy. Though it didn't make sense that Emily would have left her apprentice with another Sith Master to manipulate, not with what Xae thought she knew of the Sith. So, she'd deduced that Quietus must, in some way, be related to the girl and "daughter" had seemed the most obvious choice.

 

Cautiously, Xae tried reaching out to the unconscious quartet only to reaffirm that the resistance had actually increased once Jaina and Raynuk had joined the girls in whatever eye of the Force-storm Raia had apparently initiated. “I take it this wasn’t something expected from his reaction?”

[Emily]

Emily was extremely frustrated. She had tried everything to help, but every time, she had been rebuffed by the girls’ minds, once even being thrown back physically into the bulkhead. She had even tried simply lending Force energy to Raynuk, but clearly whatever had pulled the girls into whatever nightmare they were inhabiting had taken hold of Raynuk and Jaina just as strongly.

 

To her perspective, nothing had been accomplished. Raynuk and Jaina had just gotten as lost as Raia and Tirzah, and Xae was content to just sit by and watch and hope that something changed. Well, that was not okay with the Gray Master. Every single person she cared about in the universe was now stuck in who-knew-what kind of hellish vortex of the Force, getting pulled deeper and deeper. She wasn’t going to just sit by. There had to be something she could do.

 

It was times like this where she was annoyed by the Jedi calm. Xae had risen and headed off the galley, followed closely by Vex’aedr, who seemed determined to keep his eye on the Jedi. When she came back with tea after a few minutes, Emily was floored. Who could drink tea at a time like this?

 

“How can you--” she started to ask, but then Xae’s question caught up with her, and she started, spilling part of the tea onto the decking. She wiped it up hurriedly. “Raia is not Quietus’ daughter,” she hastily corrected. “Not in a blue Coruscanti moon. She’s been my apprentice for about two weeks. She’s Dathomiri, brought to the Sith by a Nightsister-turned-Sith, sort of, and forced to kill someone in self-defense. After that, she knew there was no going back to her clan, so she pursued training. She has very unique gifts, and it’s been a challenge already to train her, but she’s dedicated and hard-working, and she’s handled the culture shock of the larger galaxy fairly well, all things considered, although it has made for some awkward questions.”

 

Just then a tremor ran through all four sleepers. Emily grabbed Raia’s hand, but it wasn’t a bad one, and still they dreamed on. She slowly let go and met Xae’s eyes. “What haven’t we tried yet?” she asked, her voice laced with a tinge of desperation.

[Xae-Lin Ardel]

Xae studied her for a moment, shocked at the force with which Emily had corrected her. “Forgive me, Lady Emily, I meant no offense. To my understanding and experience, Sith don’t tend to trust one another, especially with such things as often dear to them as their apprentices. My assumptions apparently struck a nerve and for that I’m sorry.”

 

She could sense and read Emily’s frustration with the situation and how desperate she was to do something anything to feel useful. Having seen something similar before in the rituals of her home world, Xae knew there was nothing to do but watch and wait. In a few steps, she crossed the room and embraced the other woman, feeling for her as the two of them watched the others for a few moments.

“I can sense how hard this is for you, the deep attachment to the others and the fear you have for their safety. Please trust me when I say that this will turn out fine. Your information about Raia actually lets me say that with a greater degree of certainty than before,” she paused and stepped back to regard Raia for a moment, Emily’s tale of her origins allowing another piece of the puzzle to click into place.

 

“You actually care about your apprentice, don’t you?” Xae’s brow furrowed as she realized how trite that must have sounded.

[Emily]

“I suppose I have no choice but to take your word on it,” Emily replied to Xae’s reassurances. “You've seen something like this before, then?”

 

But then Xae’s sudden hug caught Emily completely off-guard. She didn't pull away, though. She knew the Jedi had good intentions. “I'm not offended. You didn't know. And yes, I do care about her.” She could tell from that simple statement much about Xae’s past experiences. “You have only met those crazed, power-hungry type Sith, I assume.” She rolled her eyes. “They're ridiculous. Lost so much in the dark side that they might as well be beasts. Powerful beasts, and deadly, and cunning, but not much more than animals.”

 

She eyed the Jedi. “Raynuk isn't that type of Sith. I don't think he ever really fully embraced the darkness. Or rather, he hasn't been that person for a while. There are Sith who don't, you know. They're rarer, but they exist. It's a very hard balance, a tightrope to walk almost. To use the darkness but not lose yourself to it…”

 

She found herself talking more than normal, trying to distract herself from her worries about the others. “And I'm not even a Sith, myself. I was. But no longer.” She gave a weak smile.

[Xae-Lin Ardel]

Xae sat down, leaning against the wall opposite the one Raynuk and Jaina were slumped, resting one arm on her upright knee and looked down at the girls. “Raia's story is very close to my own. I was born into a Nightsister clan, my own mother the leader of the Clan. Only...I never quite accepted their ways.” She paused and looked up toward the ceiling as she continued.

“There was a self-exiled Jedi I found in the forests and helped keep him hidden from my mother. He taught me that my mother's ways were not the only way to access the magicks - the Force,” her voice had gradually slipped from lilting to a now clearly identifiable Dathomiri accent. “I left with him of my own free will when I was no older than she is now.”

 

The Jedi's eyes found Emily’s curiously mismatched ones and she explained, “There's a ritual that happens around that age. A test that helps you determine who you are...a kind of journey led through the Force. Up until now, I've always thought it to be something that was initiated by the teacher to the apprentice, but the fact she initiated it, whether or not she realized it, with a complete stranger suggests it's innate to who we are as Dathomiri.

 

“I assume the Witches have a similar ritual, but having little personal experience with them, I can't be sure. I can remember my mother throwing everything at me she could in mine. Ultimately it's up to the two girls to find their way out, beating whatever challenges they've created together,” she concluded, just as Raia’s heart rate jumped considerably and another set of tremors took the girls.

 

Xae jumped in, helping Emily with Tirzah as the other ensured Raia didn't injure herself. Once they'd subsided again Xae sat back on her heels. “The hardest thing about these trials is that it's just you and what you bring...without using the Force to combat this. Knowing what I do about the Jedi and the Lightside, the presence of a trusted mentor would be to provide guidance rather than obstacles to the apprentice. Do you trust in Quietus to guide Raia out and lend his support to her rather than trying to blast his way out to the quick solution?”

[Emily]

Emily listened with interest. She had studied the Dathomiri and Nightsisters, but this she had never heard of. Clearly, there were some things the clans kept closely guarded secrets.

 

As Xae explained though, Emily grew more pained. “I...yes, I do trust him. He's an excellent mentor and he's taken to Raia well, and as long as he keeps his head, he'll be fine. But…” she bit her lip. “I'm worried that despite him being taken into this vision or trap or test, he's not the right person for the job. After all, I’m her master. If that is what the test was looking for, shouldn't it be me in there?” She couldn't meet Xae’s gaze. “Or maybe this is the Force telling us that Quietus is the one who is supposed to train her. It seems she has bonded more with him than with me.”

 

She sighed. “That sounds ridiculous and petty, doesn't it. Don't know why I'm even saying all of this to you.” She chuckled wryly. “This is one of those attachments you Jedi train yourself to let go of. It's why I was such a miserable Jedi padawan.”

 

Suddenly, Quietus began grunting, and as she watched, bruises began to appear. She immediately moved next to him and placed a hand on his face, concerned. Hold on, love, she thought. You’ll be okay. You’ll all be okay…

[Xae-Lin Ardel]

“But you've only been with her for two weeks,” Xae said gently. “It took me months to trust Master Durron when I convinced him to let me come along on an impulse. Besides, is it a bad thing that she’s bonded with someone you trust? There is something there as well, a darkness that complicated things when Tirzah was brought into the mix.”

 

The Exorcist closed her eyes and listened, not surprised when she didn't get much beyond the swirl. “Unlike some of the more self-righteous Jedi I've known...I believe in letting people make their own choices because it's kriffing hard when you have to break out your own path.”

“Was it just the attachment issue that soured you to the Jedi?” She asked after a few more minutes.

[Emily]

Emily was uncomfortable. Sure, she had only been with Raia for two weeks, but it was the same with Quietus--even a bit less so. The first time she had seen Quietus, she had vomited all over his sarcophagus due to the violence he had committed. To go from that to this...it was dramatic.

 

So she latched onto Xae’s change of subject gratefully. “No, not really,” she replied. “In my experience, the Jedi are too afraid. They are afraid of the Force--of the dark side particularly. It limits them. They refuse to believe that it doesn’t come down to a tiny line; it’s a larger gray area. The Force is a whole, light and dark together, and you can use both and neither at the same time. They are right to fear the dark side. But I think they worry too much about falling, when it takes a deliberate choice. No one falls to the darkness by accident.”

 

She shook her head. “But I also think that total devotion to the light side can be almost as dangerous. If you seek so much to follow the direction and will of the Force, you lose your individuality as surely as if the dark side possessed you. The extremes of both ends are dangerous and radical.

 

“So I guess it was the fact that I didn’t want to live my life in fear. The Sith, for all their flaws, fear very little but powerlessness. And I didn’t want to commit to an Order--either Order--where the end goal was a loss of my individuality, whether they called it that or not.” She shrugged. “I learned some good lessons from the Jedi, but I’m no more one of them than I am a Dathomiri Witch, an Aang-Tii monk, an Adept of the White Current, or any of the other Force philosophies I’ve studied.”

[Xae-Lin Ardel]

“Then Raia is lucky to have a master that can present her options and guide her in a way no one else can,” Xae remarked simply as another tremor over-took both girls and Raia's nose began to bleed slightly.

 

“For their sake, I hope they're able to end this sooner rather than later.” It was the first time any sort of worry had crept into the Jedi's voice.

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

The girls rolled over, as if in sync, in the arena sand, attempting to get away, but froze in place as the Ssurian gulped Delta down its massive gullet and then turned towards them, its fangs bloodied and half-open in a hungry smile. Panic echoed throughout the Force as Tirzah instinctively reached out, only to feel the pain erupt within her own mind once more as the ground shook.

 

Fear now spurring Raia to action, she managed to scuttle to her feet, tearing towards the dais and Hatter-Raynuk--only to be stopped with a whip of the beast’s spiked tail that sent the girl soaring through the air and back into the center of the arena where she lay dazed as the beast circled.

 

Tirzah looked around as the beast was distracted with Raia’s movement, somehow innately knowing that this challenge was hers to take on. Her eyes scanned for the lightsaber that had been used only minutes ago in the dueling ring, but it evaded her detection. She reached out to the Force, desperately trying to recall all of the lessons she had sat through about weaving mental and physical barriers using only Force energy, but the rumbling of the planet only intensified. The harder she pressed into the Force, the more the sand beneath her feet seemed to tremble, and Tirzah was tossed to the ground. This isn’t working… she thought in frustration, her fingers clawing into the sand as she released her mental tap on the Force.

 

An odd idea sprang to mind, one that had a very slim chance of panning out in her favor, but Tirzah was running out of options. Throwing a hand up into the air, she called with all the strength she could muster, “NEW LIGHTSABER!”

 

A silvery blur shot like a blaster bolt through the air and landed with a smack in the palm of her hand. Not only a new lightsaber, it was her new lightsaber: the shoto forged by her mother. Scrambling to her feet, she shot half a glance at Jaina before her thumb tightened over the ignition switch.

 

A burst of brilliant light rolled out from the short hilt, the hue reflective of the leaves of the jungle trees. Vibrant, unlike anything she’d seen before, the emerald green was a bridge between herself and her father. She had brought his essence to this fight along with her. Steeling herself to confront the beast that was closing in on Raia, her hands tightened on the hilt.

 

Meanwhile, the Dark Queen kept her gaze firmly on the girl in the center of the arena. It was obvious by the way the girl kept staring at the disgraced oddly-hatted man: that was where she wanted to go. The Queen’s gloved hand raised up, her finger extended towards a point in between them. There was a sudden shimmer through the air before a glass wall appeared. Every image seen through it was now twisted and distorted. of what may or may not be

 

The Dark King smiled evilly and placed his hand on the Queen’s shoulder. When she looked up at him, he angled his head towards the pit and spoke one word which was carried across the pit by his deep voice. “Mine.” He raised his left hand toward the sky and unleashed a portion of his power over the pit. The air grew cold and clouds began to gather across the open-aired gathering, as a palpable darkness flowed out from the dais--or rather, it seemed--from the King himself.

 

The Ssurian began to groan and then to howl as the pressure in the arena began to increase with the shift in air temperature, a little bit at first then in ever growing amounts. It lifted its head towards the sky and howled one last time, the panic in its howl full blown then turned and ran for the exit gate. As it ran, its left foot connected with Tirzah and sent the girl flying into the invisible glass wall and knocked the shoto saber from her hand. As Tirzah tumbled away, the beast, already inflight, stumbled and hit Raia with its shoulder and tossed her into a pillar.

 

The Dark King watched for a moment. His crown and armor completely shrouded his face, apart from his eyes and predatory smile, in shadow. Then his voice filled the arena once more. “He will not save you, he is powerless. Kneel! To! The! Throne!” The King lifted his closed right hand towards the heavens. A sharp piercing wind rose suddenly and began to lift small rocks from the ground and spin them around the arena at a great speed. A second later a massive bolt of ebony lightning split the ground between Raia and Tirzah. The first bolt was quickly followed by four more in quick succession, and soon bolts of lightning were raining down over the floor all around the dais. As the lightning crackled in the air, the Dark Queen’s evil laugh rang out over the sound of the storm.

[Raynuk Montar]

The Raynuk-Hatter, still shadowed by two of the cultist guards and being held firmly, could only watch as the lightning filled the arena, the King’s words still echoing through his mind as he watched Tirzah and Raia scramble for some semblance of safety.

 

...will not save you, he is powerless…

 

“No.. Not this time.” The Raynuk-hatter whispered to himself. Force or no Force, he came here to get these girls out; they, and Jaina, were counting on him. And for perhaps the first time ever in his life, Raynuk Montar thought like someone who could be a hero.

 

He thought like a Jedi.

 

Before he fully understood what he was doing, he lurched forward, dragging the guards a few steps forward and off balance, then used that momentum to counter-grab them and smash them together in front of him. A third guard was quick to react, charging from behind the King, but the hatter, a mad smile on his face, was ready, and charged him, catching the guard completely by surprise as Raynuk tackled him backwards into the King, knocking all three men to the ground. Raynuk was the first to his feet, delivering a kick to the guard as more descended upon him. The problem was the guards came at him one at a time, and each found themselves being thrown onto an increasingly large pile of guards, with the king at the bottom, all amidst shrill screams off “Off with his heaaad!” from the Queen. Knocking the King down and burying him under a few guards was enough apparently to all but stop the storm he had created, and it gave the Raynuk-hatter an opportunity and an opening to jump into the arena, landing less than gracefully, and scrambled over to Raia, who was still slightly dazed.

 

He grabbed for her, fighting off the initial flying arms and fists that came before the girl realized it was him, at which point he produced the small rancor statue from the pocket of his fancy coat, and pressed it into both of her hands.

 

“Sorry I didn’t bring you a lightsaber like Tirzah got; this statue seems useless in comparison, I know. But you must understand mazais… this entire world is the creation of you and Tirzah, you can make everything here whatever you want it to be; look at me, I’m some sort of madman with a hat, because that is what the two of you made me into. No matter what happens… I promise to deliver you out of this nightmare.” He said in a hurry. He was just about to help pull Raia to her feet, statue in hand, when the Hatter was instead pulled off his feet.

 

“HAAATTEEEER!” came the very angry, and very kingly voice; it was indeed the King, who had climbed out from under the pile of guards and was standing once more, pulling the Raynuk-hatter from the arena with the Force.

 

“Hey! No fair! How come he gets to use it!” the Raynuk-hatter questioned to the universe itself as he struggled against the invisible bonds. It was only a few seconds before he found himself floating an inch above the dias, and was turned to find the very angry face of the king that matched the very angry kingly voice. For a moment, the Raynuk-hatter swore he saw steam bursting from the king’s ears.

 

The Hatter put on his best smile. “Ah-heh! All uhm, part of the show my good king?”

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

“NO!!!” Raia cried as Quietus was torn away from her and to the other side of the translucent glass wall that now blocked off the rest of the arena from the dais where the Dark King and Queen glowered down at her and Tirzah. The Queen smiled down cruelly at the girl, reveling in the helplessness and fear echoing off of her prisoner. She gave a slight nod to something behind Raia and the ear-splitting screech of the Furion-beast resonated through the arena chamber, bringing the girls to their knees once more.

 

“Who are you?”

 

It was that damn voice again, only this time the Treeworm was nowhere to be found as Raia looked around, noting Tirzah in a defensive posture as the ssurian advanced on the younger girl. Panic began to rise within her as the voice called again, this time a bit more forcefully and a silvery Moth in a well-cut grey business suit fluttered insistently in front of her face.

 

“Oh, poor girl. Have you forgotten who you are?” The Moth asked while in a slow hover. The tie around his neck swung with each movement of his body.

 

Ignoring the surrounding commotion, the Moth moved closer to Raia’s face as if to inspect her features. He darted from one area to another, almost colliding against her skin each time, “Perhaps someone else knows who you are.”

 

Who was she? Her hand closed around the rancor figure and she thought once again about just wanting to go home to Dathomir. It had been her focus ever since she arrived in this strange dream world, but she had not stopped to consider the oddly familiar nature of her surroundings.

 

...this world is a creation of you and Tirzah… Raynuk’s words echoed in her mind. You can make everything here what you want it to be…

 

The jungles and ravines, the red-tinged sky, the distant roar echoing through the jungles…

 

If what Master Quietus had said was true, then she was already home.

 

“I’m Dathomiri,” she whispered, looking at the rancor figure in her hand. “I’m a Daughter of Dathomir!” she exclaimed, throwing the figure into the sand where it erupted into a fully-grown version of her homeworld’s most famous creature, although its hide remained the same metallic sheen as the figure.

 

With an answering roar of its own, it rounded on the Dark Royals’ beast and Raia leapt onto it’s back. The beast resisted her for a moment as she tried to reconnect with the feeling and emotions that had engulfed her as she’d read Raynuk’s message that had accompanied the gift. This was her rancor. She may not be part of the healing caste any more, but that didn’t take away her connection to Dathomir.

 

Finally she was able to direct the beast toward Tirzah and the Furion-ssurian and knock him back to the other side of the arena with a fierce swipe of his claw. When the ssurian collected himself and closed once more, Raia noticed the beast seemed slightly smaller--or perhaps her rancor had grown.

 

The spiked tail whipped out once more, knocking the rancor over and causing Raia to fall in the process. This time there was determination on her face as she projected herself through the rancor and grappled with the beast, the two of them becoming tangled in a loud battle as Raia wrestled her will against the Dark King’s.

 

Tirzah had scurried to the far side of the arena, desperate to retrieve the shoto that the King’s blast had knocked from her hand, dodging bursts and blasts of lightning as Raia pounded against the invisible barrier that separated them from the surrounding audience. Her ribs were aching from the force with which she had slammed into the barrier wall, and the maelstrom of pebbles left thin, slicing cuts on her right cheek and forehead. The ssurian had turned on her, finding a moving target much more interesting.

 

Her fingers had barely closed around the hilt of her saber when she felt the hot breath of the great dragon on her neck. Her danger senses had not alerted her, and almost too late, she rolled away, the creature’s jaws closing on the air where she had stood only a moment before. It howled in frustration, the scream deadening her eardrums as she scrambled in the sand, trying to regain her footing. The lightning abated momentarily, and Tirzah sprinted back towards the end of the arena where the dais sat, saber ignited in her hand. Shaking the arena with its footfalls, the Furion-beast stomped after her, when all of a sudden Tirzah was face to face with yet another monster.

 

“What the kriff?! Did you things suddenly start breeding when I wasn’t looking?” she hollered, before her next realization: Raia was atop the beast’s neck. As the rancor swiped a massive claw at the ssurian, Tirzah’s sprint carried her back to the barrier, putting Raia and her mount between herself and the dragon.

 

With an almighty yell, she plunged her saber into the barrier. The earth groaned and shuddered in protest, and an electrical current ran through her body, causing her to withdraw her assault. For a moment, Tirzah thought that one of the stray lightning bolts emanating from the contrived storm overhead had struck her. But a fraction of a second later, a hazy blur of light streaked across her vision, and as if from memory, she could hear the steady chirrup of medbay monitors.

 

Behind her, Raia’s rancor had recovered its footing, swiping and slashing at the great beast. Her hands held before her in a form of pantomime, Raia instinctively leaned into the Force to direct the creature’s movements, expecting too late the sharp pain that had flooded her earlier. But where there had been a jolt of pain previously, this time, it was only a faint ticklish hum. Her eyes widened. If she and Tirzah had created this world together, maybe it was up to them to destroy it.

 

From the corner of her eye, Raia caught a flash of green as Tirzah hacked away at the barrier wall. Extending her hands toward the Furion-beast, and thinking of the long, fearful days whiled away on Spite Station, Raia compressed the creature in her mind. WIth a hissing groan, the ssurian began to shrink in size. Where it once stood opposite the massive rancor, soon it was approaching the size of the figurine that Raia had deployed into the arena. With a single swipe of a claw, the rancor seized the miniature dragon and crammed the creature into its waiting mouth.

 

I own this vision, I control the chaos, she thought determinedly, holding out her hands to the maelstrom.

 

Just as quickly as it had started, the storm in the arena calmed. Having swallowed the ssurian, her rancor shrank to its previous size and froze inanimate, and Raia darted forward to retrieve it from where it lay in the sand. Assuming the incoming wrath of the Royals, she turned to face them, only to find that the King and Queen and their brown-robed entourage had vanished.

 

Tirzah stood, her palms flat on the invisible barrier. All of her tricks to bring the wall down had come to nothing. Why couldn’t she get through? It was what she had wanted, more than anything else--to get home, to be released from this strange prison. Her hands balled into fists, and she slammed them into the barrier. Jaina leapt down from the dais, her overlong ears missing, and she and the Hatter came to stand before Tirzah on the opposite side of the wall.

 

Looking up, Tirzah moved to place her hand on the wall again, reaching out to her mother, when she was startled by the thritter-cat’s mischievous smirk appearing in the barrier before her. A moment later, the creature's winking eyes also shimmered into existence. “Only a few find the way, some don’t recognize it when they do, and some--well, some don’t ever want to,” her purring voice came.

 

Tirzah frowned, now quite ready to be done with riddles. “What do you mean?”

 

Grin unwavering, the cat’s brow lifted in a noncommittal shrug. “Do you want to find the way back? Do you remember what’s waiting for you there?”

 

Phantom fingers, cool and soft, lay alongside her face. The air was suddenly too cold, although Tirzah’s forehead still glistened with the sweat of her exertion in the arena. Going back might mean the loss of whatever sight she had been granted here in this netherworld. Going back could mean facing the repercussions of her absence without leave from Tython. Going back would mean having to do the work of carving out a place in the galaxy.

 

Jaina’s visage peeked around the cat’s on the other side of the wall. But not alone, Tirzah thought, a hopeful flutter in her heart, and the shoto glowed warm in her hand. I have a family now.

 

“I want to go back. Will you show me the way?”

 

“Which way?” the cat purred.

 

Incredulous, Tirzah scoffed. “The way back.”

 

“The way back where?” Cheeky eyes blinked too slowly.

 

“Are you going to show me the way, or aren’t you?” Her anger brought her near to tears.

 

The cat’s grin widened, if that was possible. “You’ve always known the way. You just had to choose it for yourself.” Her tail materialized and reached out from within the wall to brush the arm in which Tirzah clutched her saber.

 

With only a moment’s hesitation, she lifted the saber again as though to thrust it into the unrelenting barrier, but instead, brought down the butt end of the weapon, sending a reverberating crack through the glass. The sound grew in volume as it traveled, until the whole arena was a dull roar, and suddenly, the wall shattered and crumbled, great shards of glass hitting the ground.

 

Tirzah rushed into her mother’s embrace, joyfully breathing in the safety and contentment of her belonging. When she pulled away, she saw Raia standing next to the tall man, all of them sweaty and dusty and beaming with relief.

 

A perfectly rectangular piece of the glass wall remained, approximately twelve feet high and six across, and the cat’s entire form had materialized atop it. The glass was no longer translucent as it had been, but a shimmering mirror, and as they all stood before it, she took in their reflections with no small interest.

 

Raia was, in her mirror image, clad in a leathery armor made from tawny hides, her hair flowing free except for a few thin braids winding through the rest. In her hand, she clutched the figurine of the rancor. Her face was absent any of the nervous fear it might have carried with it, and instead, a fierce volatility pervaded her aura.

 

Raynuk’s oddly patched jacket had been replaced. Clad in shimmering armor of blinding white, he stood taller, straighter, with a steely glint in his eye and determination in his veins. The dark tint of his hair, cascading over the top of his shoulders, stood in sharp contrast to his attire. In one hand, he held his saber, and in the other, he clasped Jaina’s hand.

 

And there stood Tirzah, who beheld herself for the first time with functional vision. Her face was a near-perfect replica of her mother’s, and she had to blink tears away at the thought so that she could continue studying the image. No, standing side-by-side with the older woman, there was no doubt, no flicker of uncertainty. Clad in flowing robes, with a saber buckled to her belt, her hair--curly and caf-colored where her mother’s was straight and caramel--was the only feature that did not immediately recall the other. She looked back and forth between them an inordinate number of times before Jaina rested a hand on her shoulder and offered a gentle smile.

 

“Girls, take us home,” Jaina said quietly.

 

Tirzah nodded at Raia, and one after another, they plunged through the mirror, which had suddenly become fluid, and disappeared.

 

The world was collapsing around the two remaining figures, the jungle falling away, the shaking of the earth signifying the disintegration of the dream world from which they had come here to rescue the girls. Jaina glanced down at her hand, fingers intertwined with Raynuk’s, and then her eyes met his in quiet acknowledgement. Together, they stepped into the beyond as the mirage evaporated.

[Emily]

Xae and Emily had lapsed into silence for a few minutes, when something changed. The health monitors hooked up to the two girls started to beep wildly. Their pulses were racing, and then pausing, and then racing again, and their blood pressure began to spike. "Something's happening!" Emily cried. There was a hypospray ready in case they needed it, but Emily hoped that this was a sign of them coming back, and not going deeper.

 

She knelt down and took Raia's hand in one of hers, and Raynuk's in her other, looking wildly back and forth between the two of them, waiting for some sign. Her nerves shot to pieces, she could do nothing but wait and hope.

[Raia Montar]

((Cross-posting as Xae and Raia again, because well...Alias stacking avoidance. ))

 

Raia's hand gave a return squeeze to Emily's as the girl began to stir, her eyes finally fluttering open as she gasped for breath. A few shuddering breaths later and her mind made sense of her surroundings once more as she sat up and looked wide-eyed from one face to another, finally meeting her teacher's concerned gaze. The Dathomiri girl released Emily's hand and threw her arms around her (nearly knocking them both over) worried that this might be yet another illusion or trick through the Force. The wave of relief that she felt when Emily was real crashed through everyone in the room as it echoed through the Force.

"I-I'm so s-sorry! I d-didn't m-mean to! I j-just w-wanted to h-help her," she managed between her tears of relief. "I missed you!" The girl pulled back a few moments later was was hurriedly wiping the tears away from her eyes as she registered they weren't alone. She was supposed to be Emily's apprentice, not some blubbering teenage girl. Raia hoped she hadn't done anything to embarrass her teacher.

 

From across the room, the Jedi Exorcist gave Emily a warm smile. "Whatever you did ít chiến binh, you got both of you through and that's no small accomplishment." There was still a pensive look on the Jedi woman's face, as though she were still giving her own quiet appraisal of the situation and wasn't quite sure what to make of Raia. So she settled on heading back to the galley to make more tea for everyone, deciding it was better to let the group sort out their connections and reunions in relative peace.

 

The girl turned to look at the Jedi, curious at hearing the Dathomiri words but saying nothing since she was not quite sure where the newcomer fit into the whole situation. Turning back to the other three that had already stirred awake, she paused when she saw Jaina sitting next to Raynuk, still hand in hand. Suddenly Raia's face paled as she realized that she must have done something terribly wrong.

 

This was the woman that she'd seen in her visions, and definitely the daughter she'd drawn. Emily's aunt and cousin, Jaina and Tirzah, perhaps the only family other than Raynuk her teacher had left, and Raia had nearly gotten them all killed or worse. "I'm tired..." she mumbled quietly before rising, rancor figure clutched in her hands. "I'm going to go lay down in my room," she added, grabbing her sketchbook from the floor and darting out the door before anyone could stop her.

 

She really hadn't meant to cause trouble, it had just sort of happened. It was probably best if she made herself scarce until they landed on Dathomir so she didn't accidentally send Tirzah into another tail-spin.

[Raynuk Montar]

Together, they had entered the Force dream of Tirzah and Raia, intent upon doing whatever was going to be necessary to pull both girls out; and now, Raynuk and Jaina exited the dream in much the same fashion, hand in hand. For the first time in countless years, the two were on the same page, a common goal that suited the determination that both possessed. And they had persevered in ways that surprised even them. By the time Raynuk's eyes fluttered open and he came back to a sense of reality as he sat up, Raia had already awoken and thrown her arms around Emily in apology. He gave the Master and apprentice their quiet moment together, knowing that they both needed it. He instead choose to silently observe as he leaned back against the wall, his own mind fully coming to terms with the truths that he had come to as he played the part of the Hatter.

 

A few moments went by before he became aware of the warmth of Jaina's hand still intertwined with his own. But he made no move to separate, instead turning to look at Jaina, only to find that she was already looking at him. She had a look on her face as if she was trying to say 'thank you', but was still struggling with the pain and fear that the years had solidified in her when it came to him; and for a moment he felt the twinge of pain and self-loathing for having been capable of so much hurt to her. But in recent times, he had steeled himself to become a better version of himself, and to that end he needed to accept everything up to his life this far and learn from it. It was through that desire to improve himself that Raynuk recovered his resolve, and gave her hand a light squeeze along with a mental, I know. as his free hand reached for her as well, finding itself resting gently on her cheek, his thumb wiping away the one tear she had not been able to contain.

 

"I told you I I would not fail you, or abandon you this time..." He said to her softly, flashing a bit of a smile.

 

His hand fell away from her cheek as Jaina turned, looking towards Tirzah as the moment slowly passed. Raynuk refocused on the rest of the room just as Raia grabbed her sketchbook and ran out of the room, a reaction that he supposed was not surprising, but still left him feeling a little disappointed that she was choosing to flee, even if it was only a few doors away. He was given a little amusement however as he watched Vex'aedr look at everyone else in the room, including him, before turning with a whuff of 'I got this' and then darted out of the room, presumably in pursuit of Raia. Raynuk's eyes then moved to Emily as she watched her apprentice run off, and Raynuk knew he should engage her. And so he stood up; but because neither he nor Jaina had quite decided to let go of each other's hand yet, he also helped her to her feet, giving her hand one more squeeze before he finally pulled his fingers from hers and turned to Emily.

 

"Okay, so that was a bit hairier than expected..." He said, suddenly feeling like he had no idea how to start a conversation. "Everything okay out here?"

[Emily]

For one moment of exquisite beauty, everything was perfect. All four of them had come out of their Force prison. Raia sat up and threw her arms around Emily, and Emily returned the embrace tightly, her eyes closed as she poured her relief and gratitude into the Force. Whatever had happened, they’d figure it out together. The important thing was that everyone was back, and they were all okay.

 

And then she opened her eyes, and the moment shattered like Kuatian crystal.

 

Raynuk and Jaina were still holding hands, and as she watched, he reached up and caressed Jaina’s face, wiping away a tear with utmost tenderness. And all of a sudden, Emily couldn’t breathe. Pain and anger grabbed her heart and threw it to the metaphorical ground with such violence that even its carefully built up walls and defenses shattered on impact. She rose, stumbling back against the medical bed, her mind rebelling against what her eyes had just told her. The tender look in his eyes, the gesture that was as much affection as he almost ever displayed…until now they had been the sole property of her. Her mind was flying in a million different directions, but all of them crystalized into one overwhelming thought and feeling: betrayal.

 

She finally found her voice, and the strength to stand. “Get. Away from her,” she breathed. Suddenly the rage was stronger than the pain. “GET AWAY!” she screamed, electricity manifesting at the tips of her fingers and leaving a scorch mark on the bed. All of a sudden she couldn’t even bear to look at him, and she stormed out of the room, tearing blindly through the unfamiliar ship.

 

"I want you by my side, always and forever."

 

"I will never abandon you."

 

"I love you, Emily."

 

“Lies…” she moaned as she stumbled through the ship. And in her torment and rage, the voice she knew to be Darth Eris’ laughed triumphantly.

 

Betrayal is the way of the Sith, little Emily. You know this. It’s not the first time he’s betrayed you. Did you really think he had changed? You poor little fool. You KNEW this was going to happen. Remember? And you walked into anyway. You have no one to blame but yourself.

 

But that wasn’t exactly true. She had no one to blame but herself…and him. HE was the one who did this. He CHOSE this. He CHOSE her.

 

“Make him pay,” Eris whispered.

 

She found herself at the hatch that should have lead back to the Shadow’s Shine, but it was closed. She spun and headed back to the lounge in the middle of the ship. Once there, she was suddenly too exhausted to even stand. She collapsed onto the sofa as her legs gave out.

 

She sat there, empty. This was the end of everything she had ever wanted. What did it matter what happened now? The curious thing was that she shed no tears. She was already too empty for tears. But then torment came on again, stronger than ever, and she doubled over in pain, her arms wrapped around her middle. It was too much…she was caught in a hurricane, blown first this way and then that, rage and agony and pain and loss all vying for dominance, each winning for a moment before being whisked away. All of her control, all of her training on how to deal with emotions, all of her previous experience with pain and loss were nothing compared to this storm she now found herself in. She was helpless before the onslaught, and she could see no way out.

 

After a long moment, though, she remembered something. She could control something. She could control her own response. The thought gave her the strength to stop her limbs from trembling. She found she couldn’t quite retreat to the icy plain of the Force she had inhabited as Eris, but she could take a few steps in that direction. Carefully, she rose to her feet.

 

“Come and face me, Darth Quietus,” she said, aloud and through the Force, her tone dark but determined. She would not run. Whatever happened, she would survive. That was who she was.

Edited February 20, 2017 by Guest

[Raynuk Montar]

"GET AWAY!"

 

Emily's primal scream was laced with pain and anger, and although he should have expected no less, the act still gave Raynuk pause. But the fact that such a reaction was not-entirely unexpected was enough of a buffer for the event not to break his face that was set in stone. As Emily, much like her apprentice, turned and ran, Raynuk's eyes dropped to the burn mark she left behind on the bed. He said nothing for a few moments, the air clearly filled with an awkward tense feeling.

"Out of one fire, into another..." He mused quietly, flashing a noticeably weaker smile than he had before. But in those following moments, it was Raynuk who shied away from looking directly at Jaina, deciding instead to address the only other person left in the room besides her; the wayward blind daughter.

"Im glad you and Raia are safe once again Tirzah." He began, noticing she winced a little as he mentioned Raia, "Do not worry about Raia, im sure you both are feeling overwhelmed at the moment. Retreating to the relative safety and comfort of a private space that is hers has become something of an expected reaction for her. You probably do not fully know who I am though, do you? Suffice to say, I am an... old friend of your mother, and leave it at that. Im sure she will tell you more about me if you wish it but I--"

 

He was interrupted by the familair voice that roared into his mind through the Force, dimly aware that the voice reached his ears too in that moment.

Come and face me, Darth Quietus...

 

"--I have something of a crisis to attend to right now."

 

He turned from both Tirzah and Jaina with purpose and exited the room, walking through his own ship until he reached the lounge, where he knew and felt Emily would be. He noticed that the Jedi was nearby in the galley making what smelled like tea, which was enough of a stereotype of the Jedi to give Raynuk a small chuckle; even more so because he knew she was most likely going to overhear the coming conversation. He then sighed before he turned his attention to Emily, who in the moment was surrounded by an aura of darkness that he had not seen in a very, very long time.

 

So it seems Darth Eris has come out to play...This should prove interesting.

 

Raynuk stood in the middle of the lounge, arms crossed in a moment that seemingly defied logic; but he was smart enough to know that approaching her and attempting to give her affection when she was this worked up would not end well for either of them.

"You called for me, and now here I am." He stated coolly and matter-of-fact in the face of her potentially unending rage and pain. He would let her air her grievances first, and respond openly and honestly, as he had always intended to be with her. He was prepared for almost anything she could fling at him, though he knew some would be more difficult than others.

[Xae-Lin Ardel]

Xae poked her head out of the galley when she felt the surge of darkside energy coming from the infirmary. Oh this can’t be good…

 

Keying her comm over to Tares’s frequency, she reported, “Stand by, I think we’ve got trouble. The girls are fine, but something set of one of the Sith and this can’t be good. Ah here she is now.”

 

The Exorcist stepped back into the galley, allowing the obviously distracted and upset Emily a few moments to herself. Though she began to get the distinct impression that it wasn’t Emily that was fully in control after several moments. That didn’t seem to phase Xae, however, as she merely stepped out of the galley and slid the woman a fresh mug of caf just within her reach and watched her carefully as she felt the darkness take hold of the woman.

 

Attachment was a painful thing, Xae knew from her own experiences with Joreel Ordo. In the end he’d chosen his attachment to the Mandalorian people over her and the Jedi Order itself. She doubted the ache would ever truly go away, but it had certainly dulled in its own time.

 

For now, she retreated as Quietus approached, leaving the two of them to sort this out. Hopefully like adults.

 

Either way, it wasn't like she could go anywhere else since Quietus had disconnected his ship from the Hope.

 

------

 

Raia had really stepped in it this time. She could feel how upset Emily was through the Force and it honestly scared her. Taking out her art supplies in an effort to bury herself and her emotions in what usually passed for a calm activity, she drew.

 

Then she blanked out, only to reawaken and stare in pain at the drawing, certain of what it meant, yet not. Wadding it up in frustration, she threw it across the room, where it rolled underneath the lockers, unnoticed against the back wall.

 

For good measure she closed up the rest of her supplies and shoved them underneath the lockers as well. The Force-magick was beginning to steal from her whatever happiness she'd had from creating things before.

 

All she wanted was to go home. No matter what she faced, it had to be better than here where she caused the others nothing but trouble.

 

Dathomir couldn't begin to come quick enough for her.

[Tares Vortex]

Tares had been quietly observing the cluster of ships gently floating in the viewport in front of him. Atlas was off to his side, silently hovering as if she too were observing. There had been a good deal of commotion in the Force. Tensions running in all directions from the ships. It had been difficult to determine who was involved, or what exactly was going on to begin with.

 

Finally, the comm roared to life, "Stand by, I think we've got trouble." Xae's voice announced over the speakers. Growing trouble amongst Sith was never a good sign. Close, contained quarters could make matters even worse.

 

"Very well, I'm standing by if needed." Tares replied before turning his attention to Atlas, "Get the engines warmed up. We might need to intervene in some capacity."

 

The droid rotated in her position to focus her photoreceptors, "What do you mean 'in some capacity'?"

 

"That remains to be seen." Tares replied....

[Emily]

He came quickly, at least. That was good. Xae was lurking around, and had slid her a cup of caf, but Emily ignored it. The smell was turning her stomach anyway. And this was something a cup of caf wouldn’t solve.

 

As he approached, she had turned her back, arms folded over her chest, attempting to control her breathing. But his cold, nonchalant words caused her to whirl around and face him.

 

“So that’s how this is going to be, huh?” she said, her tone scathing but matching his in temperature. “I have to say I expected a little more emotion from you when you betrayed me again. I don’t know why. Everything with you is careful, deliberate…robotic.”

 

She shook her head. “I knew bringing her here was a bad idea, but did I listen to my instincts? No, I was too busy hoping that everything would be well. I was too busy trusting you. Well, I’m sure you’re laughing at my foolishness now. Little Emily, so naïve, never learning the lesson of the Sith. Tell me—did you know the minute you were resurrected that you’d run back into her arms at the first opportunity? Were you holding me and thinking about her?” Her voice shook. Heat returned to her tone, but the volume remained tightly controlled. “You kriffing scumbag.”

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

When Jaina peeled her eyes open, disoriented, half of her mind was struggling to retain all of what had happened in Tirzah's dream. Relief flooded her as Emily's face--minus its feline stripes--came into view, her arms wrapped around Raia. So they had achieved their goal: the girls were safe, their minds their own, rescued from the nebulous depths of the Force into which they had wandered. Tirzah, head still in her lap, had her eyes open as well--but where they had been a pure white before, Jaina could see a glimmer of color flooding into her cornea. Perhaps the measure of sight she had received in the vision would be permanent. Gratitude flooded her as the girl's eyes met hers, and Jaina turned to Raynuk, tears of relief stinging her eyes in the scrubbed medbay air.

 

His eyes were already trained on her, and they were soft--too soft. A slow warmth grew within her, waves lapping at her soul, growing in strength until they were nearly crashing against the walls of her heart. Her face grew warm, and she was suddenly aware of the pressure of his hand in hers, but inexplicably, could not seem to gather enough strength to pull away. His hand moved, slowly, to trace the trail of the tear that had rolled down her cheek. "I told you I would not fail you, or abandon you this time..."

 

No longer able to meet the intensity of his gaze, Jaina glanced quickly back to Tirzah, who was pushing herself up off of her mother's lap. Raynuk's hand in hers pulled Jaina to her feet, and she rested her hand on Tirzah's shoulder. Relishing in the victory they had all shared, in the reunion that could not have been improved by any means she could think of, and in the connection she felt to this, her family, a smile spread across Jaina's face as Raynuk applied a gentle pressure to her hand before finally releasing it.

 

And was instantly rescinded, a startled tremor jolting through her with the shock of Emily's outburst. Horror flooded her as she realized what had just transpired. She wanted to open her mouth, to denounce Emily's assumptions, to reassure and comfort her niece. It would be an easy enough explanation, sharing what had happened in the netherworld. It was only an expression of gratitude for what he had done to rescue her daughter. He was only comforting her. Renouncing the implications of the outraged command would be simple, Jaina thought, since there was no truth in them.

 

So why was she paralyzed, watching as Emily recoiled and disappeared through the doorway?

 

She was aware that Raynuk turned to address Tirzah, but so shocked was she by her own internal discovery that she barely paid attention to his words. Only when he followed Emily down the hall--was that a lingering look he shot her, or her imagination?--did she fully come back to herself.

 

"Tirzah," she murmured, determined not to frighten the girl beyond the emotional outbursts she had already witnessed. If she was unclear about how to approach this situation, with Emily's strength in the Force obvious, and her volatility directed at Jaina--then it was no longer safe for Tirzah on the Ravenhammer. Until she could give a sufficient explanation to Emily, if not to herself, it was time to put some distance between herself and her furious niece. The steady presence of Tares was reaching for her, questioning, and suddenly Jaina knew what she must do. "I think it's time for us to go."

 

Wrapping one arm around her daughter, unsure if she was still affected by the oxygen deprivation she had endured, she hoisted Tirzah with her and made her way through the ship to the cockpit where Raynuk's mouthy droid sat. Pulling her lightsaber off her belt, she ignited it and held it before her, slanted in guard position, the thrumming filling the cockpit. "Okay, tin man, here's what's going to happen. You're going to extend the docking rings and let the Ferro Re approach and connect, and I'll leave you in one piece."

 

She reached out through the Force to Xae and Tares. Make ready, and stay on your guard. We need to leave.

[Raynuk Montar]

Raynuk listened, exactly as he resolved himself to do, as Emily threw no less than nine barbs and insults directly at him. He felt the impact of them all against his very being, and found that the anger that rose from his stomach when anyone else in his past had insulted him as such quickly fizzled away. He knew Emily had her reasons to be furious, justified or not. It was on him to resolve and de-escalate this situation, and for now that meant keeping a cooler head in the face of Emily's rage and pain. So he began by taking a few steps closer, dropping his arms and spreading them as he did.

 

"So that's what you think? That I've betrayed you 'again' ?" He began, knowing he would have to choose his words carefully and keep his own instictal reactions in check. "If you consider helping your aunt save your cousin and your apprentice from some mad Force-dream a betrayal, then I can stand as nothing but guilty. If you call my own desire to make amends for the hell that i put your aunt through in our youth a betrayal, then I am again guilty."

 

He paused, both in speaking and moving as he studied her face once more.

 

"Im not laughing Emily, least of all at you. If you think I see you as foolish, or naive, or that you never learned 'the lesson of the Sith', then you have not been paying attention... and that is a betrayal itself." There was a twinge of sorrow in his voice as he spoke, which he quickly recovered from. "I have had a lifetime of emotions that controlled me; anger, hatred, rage... All of them. And I am sorry that my ability to control my emotions now, and to not let them control me as they once did, is an affront to you. But do not mistake my level head and control with lack of emotion. You should know me better than that."

 

And there was yet another barb thrown back to her in response. This was not proceeding how he would have liked, but even with his control, the variety of emotions he was feeling were affecting his words. But the responses, if nothing else, were honest of what was coursing through his mind and his heart. He turned from her as he began thinking more heavily about his perceived actions, when the intercomm beeped. Slightly exasperated, Raynuk crossed to the panel in the lounge.

 

"Not now 2V, whatever it is --"

 

<>

 

-------------------------------------------

 

2-VSH had resigned himself to the bordom of watching all the nothingness of this region of space. The droid was of course keeping track of all the ships that were in the area; the Traitor's Hope was still docked with the Shadow's Shine, the small Mandalorian ship that had attempted a target lock was lurking about at a much more comforting distance, and the other ship -- which he had gotten an ID of Ferro Re -- was pretty passive. The droid had filled the time by looking at the database and memory banks that Raynuk had brought over from the Ogariv II, up until the point where the door to the cockpit opened. 2V expected to see Raynuk, or maybe even the giant white tuk'ata, but was as close to surprised as a droid could be when Jaina walked in with a smaller, darker haired version of herself, and instantly drew her lightsaber and issued the ultimatum to the 2V. For a brief few seconds, the droid just looked at her, its photoreceptors shifting from her face, to the lightsaber, to Tirzah, and back to Jaina before it spoke.

 

<>

 

The droid turned back around, essentially treating Jaina not as a threat as it pinged the intercomm and awaited a response.

 

"Not now 2V, whatever it is --"

 

<> The droid answered before turning back to Jaina, <>

 

The droid turned back as a string of mumbled curses came through from Raynuk.

 

-------------------------------------------------------

 

Raynuk stared at the intercomm blankly for a moment, having to shift his mind away from the arguement with Emily to whatever situation was now unfolding in the cockpit. His initial response was to sigh and mutter a few choice curses before he responded, tapping the comm again.

"What is she threatening you for..." He asked dryly, expecting that 2V had somehow done something wrong.

 

<>

 

Raynuk was once again slightly stunned, not only at Jaina's apparent turn of 'i need to run away', but that 2V assumed it was something Raynuk had done. I guess everyone is blaming me today... he thought sourly. But if Jaina suddenly felt like she was trapped, he wasnt going to give her needless reason to continue. They had saved Tirzah and Raia, and he could not help but think that having Jaina leave would help aleviate some of the anger Emily was feeling.

 

"Okay 2V, do what she wants. Theres no reason to keep her here. We only left docking because of that other ship." He said with a sigh, not wanting to get into the fact that he had spent a very large amount of time fixing the Traitor's Hope. He then turned back to look into the eyes of someone who hated him in the moment. His eyes fell to the floor as he approached her again, attempting to regain the point he had lost before the interuption, her words replaying in his mind.

"I can not tell you what to feel Emily, and I will never claim to." he began, then met her cold gaze once more, "But before today, I had no expectations of ever getting the chance to atone for the misery I put Jaina through, let alone even see her again. Do you know what I did expect though?"

 

Despite his best efforts, the added stress of the interruption was enough that his tone began to rise into a more fiery disposition. "I expected you to run off and find Jaina, and never come back. To hear her tell you stories of the man I once was, the man who essentially ruined her life and took every ounce of joy from her, and for you to turn your back on me forever, just as she did. She is your family, so why wouldnt you trust her, and believe her, and vow to stand beside her. And you know why I expected that? Because I deserve it. I deserve to feel the pain, and loneliness that I made her feel. I am a Sith, and Sith dont get happy endings. Sith die alone, with a blade through their back and no one to grieve for them. But then I found your cousin, and I saw an opportunity to make amends to your aunt. I didnt expect her to come. I was prepared to fix her ship and leave both girls there, so that she wouldnt have to face me ever again. But then you both showed up, and now because we were all here, Tirzah and Raia are free from the nightmare they created together. "

 

He stepped even closer. "I will not apologize for giving a pfassk about someone that isnt you. I care what happens to all of you; you, her, Raia, even Tirzah. If you find me caring for someone else, especially someone who once meant as much to me as you do, to be such an egregious sin against you, then I cant help you. She will always mean something to me, and nothing can change that."

 

He turned away from her then. "You havent been my apprentice for many years... likely you've done more without me than with me. I can not stop you from making decisions that you've set yourself to, no matter the personal cost to me."

 

He had come to the realization that this may be the day he lost all of them at once, and that was a thought that he had to push down deep, for it was a thought that gave him fear.

 

-----------------

 

"Okay 2V, do what she wants. Theres no reason to keep her here. We only left docking because of that other ship." Raynuk's voice came through the intercomm, sounding a little worn out.

 

<> 2V glanced over his shoulder to Jaina. <>

 

With its orders in place, 2V began moving the ship away from the Traitor's Hope and Shadow's Shine, plotting a course that would bring it closer to the Ferro Re, while he simultaneously hailed the ship.

<>

 

2V then turned again to Jaina, seeing that the woman still had her lightsaber ignited.

 

<>